Piano-action.



No. 882,*302. A PATBNTEQ MAR. 17, 1908.

R; EASTWOOD,

PIANO AGTION. APPLIOATION LE AUG, 4. 1906.

!NVENTOR WITNESSES V After-na s i No. 882,302. PATENTED MAR. 17, 1908.

R. EASTWOOD.

PIANO ACTION.

APPLICATION HLED AUG.4,'19o6.

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RICHARD EASTWOOD, OF COLNE, ENGLAND.

PIANO-ACTION.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 17, 1908.

Application filed August 4, 1906. Serial No. 329,184.

T 0 all whom tt may concern:

Be it known that I, RICHARD EAsrwooD, a subject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, and residing and having a post-oliice address at 14 Albert road, Colne, in the county of Lancaster, England, have invented new and useful Improvements in Piano-Actions, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in the action of upright pianos of the check and counter-check type and relates especially to the invention described in the specification of my Patent 825202, dated July 3, 1906.

The object of my present invention is to provide equally eflcient means yet Simpler than heretofore used to render possible the very 'rapid repetition of a single note with perfect action.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a side view of the action in a piano such as hereinbefore named with my invention applied; Fig. 2 is a front view of the same. In these views the hammer is shown at rest; Fig. 3 is a side view of the same action showing the relative positions of the several parts when the hammer is touching the wires and Figs. 4, 5, 6 and 7 show slight modifications.

The same letters refer to like parts in the several views.

In the Construction covered by my patent above referred to, I accomplished the desired end by interposing between the check and counter-check a block of sufficient size pivoted to one or the other of said pieces, whereby the length of the rebound of the hammer after a stroke was greatly shortened in case the key was only partially released, and the player was thereby enabled to repeat the .note with great rapidity and with perfeet action although not giving a'full stroke of the key to actuate the hammer. The same object is now` accomplished by me Instead of using an interposed block, I connect a spring wire d to the counter-check c and secure to the lower end of said wire a plate (1 that is of about the same width as the check e, and in such a position that its face or the lower portion thereof is in contact with the face of the check e, but is below the countercheck 6 when the hammer is striking the wires, and the faces of the countercheck c and the check e are in contact, as shown in Fig. 3 so that it is not nipped between the said countercheck and the check, but is pressing against the face of the check. It will be seen at once that the action of the spring plate is not only to oppose the rebound of the hammer after a stroke, (and the greater the opposition the further the hammer rebounds) but also to give added impulse to the forward movement of the hammer on a new stroke. The function of the block previously used is thus in great part secured, while a new advantage is attained which my previous Construction wholly lacked.

I do not confine myself to any precise manner of fixing said spring plate d the countercheck 6 may be formed so that the spring or springs d may be attached to the bottom of said countercheck, and the plate d above, as in Fig. 4, or said wire or wires may be attached to the check e and the plate press against the face of the countercheck 0 as in Figs. 5 and 6, the relative positions of the plate and the countercheck c and the check being the same. In connection with this Construction, I also fit a spring wire g to the butt c in such a position that its free end g will press against a bar or stop as f when the hammer strikes the wires and thereby assist its return after the note is struck; the positions of said spring wire g and bar f may be varied as shown in Fig. 7, but h ave the same action.

I claim as my invention 1. A piano action comprising a check and a countercheck, a plate and means whereby said plate is supported in engagement with one of said parts during their approach to each other but moves out from between said parts before the latter impinge against each other, as and for the purposes described.

2. A piano action comprising a check and a countercheck, a plate and means whereby said plate is supported on one of said partscso as to engage the other during their approach to each other but moves out from between said parts before the latter impinge against each other, as and for the purposes described.

3. In upright pianos, the combination with a check and countercheck having an interposed spring-actuated part, and a hammer butt and rest, of a spring Secured to said hammer butt and adapted to engage the 2 &82,302

hammer rest on the strikng movement of the In testimony Whereof I have signed my hammer. name to this specification, in the presence of 4. In uprght pianos, the combinaton With two subscrbing witnesses. the hammer butt and rest, of a spring se- RICHARD EASTWOOD. 5 cured to said butt and adapted to engage the Wtnesses:

hammer rest on the strikng movement of the THOS. PRESCOTT, hammer. J. ERNEST HUGHES. 

